|
The Battle of Seminara, part of the First Italian War, was fought in Calabria on 28 June 1495 between a French garrison in recently conquered southern Italy and the allied forces of Spain and Naples which were attempting to reconquer these territories. Against the redoubtable combination of gendarmes and Swiss mercenary pikemen in the French force, the allies had only Neapolitan troops of indifferent quality and a small corps of lightly armed Spanish soldiers, accustomed to fighting the Moors of Spain. The result was a rout, and much of the fighting centered on delaying actions to permit the fleeing allied force to escape. However, although the battle was a decisive French victory from a tactical perspective, it did not prevent the allies from driving the French from southern Italy. The battle is notable primarily because it is often cited as the prime reason for the reorganization of the Spanish army,〔See, e.g., Keegan and Wheatcroft, ''Who's Who in Military History'', 63; Pohl and Hook, ''Conquistador'', 17; Lanning, ''Military 100'', 110〕 which brought about widespread adoption of firearms in pike and shot formations, one of the milestones of the "Military Revolution." == Antecedents == French king Charles VIII had invaded Italy in 1494 in an attempt to press his Angevin claim to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples upon the death of Ferdinand I of Naples.〔Johnson, ''Europe in the Sixteenth Century'', 14-15.〕 Ferdinand's successor was his son Alfonso II of Naples, who soon abdicated—in fear of the looming French invasion—in favor of his son, Ferdinand II of Naples. The French quickly overran the disunited Italian peninsula and arrived in the Kingdom of Naples on 21 February 1495, Ferdinand II having fled to Sicily at the approach of the French army.〔Johnson, 21.〕 There, in temporary exile, Ferdinand joined his cousin, Ferdinand II of Aragon, King of Sicily and Spain, who offered assistance in recovering Naples.〔Nicolle, ''Fornovo'', 7-11.; Prescott, ''Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella'', 265-6.〕 In response to Charles' invasion, the League of Venice was formed by many of the Italian powers opposed to the French presence in Italy. The League subsequently established a strong military force in the north of Italy, which threatened to cut the line of communication between the French army, then deep in the south of Italy, and its base in France. On 30 May 1495 Charles split his army, taking half of the troops (approximately 9,000 men, horse and foot) in the northward march to fight their way back into France, and leaving the rest to hold the recently conquered Neapolitan territories. Eventually, after hard fighting, Charles' army shouldered its way past a larger League force at the Battle of Fornovo (July 1495) and returned to France.〔Prescott, 267.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Seminara」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|